10 Actor Replacements That Actually Improved Movies

Throughout the Rocky franchise, Apollo Creed's (Carl Weathers) wife Mary Anne has appeared five times, first in the original Rocky as played by Lavelle Roby and then by the late Sylvia Meals in Rocky II and IV.

Though Roby and Meals did fine enough work with what they had, neither of their Mary Annes had much dimension at all as characters, and so there was only so much they could do with the part.

But Mary Anne was given significantly greater bite when she reappeared in both Creed movies (and also its upcoming sequel), as now played by Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad.

Rashad brings soul and dignity to the fore as the adoptive mother of Apollo's son Donnie (Michael B. Jordan), serving as an indispensable well of wisdom even when Donnie doesn't heed her advice.

Instantly sympathetic as a concerned parent and further elevated by Rashad's authoritative, compassionate performance, this is a textbook example of a brilliant recast that worked in perfect tandem with superior writing.